Asja Zupanc

Asja Zupanc is a Slovenian driver with many top-ten finishes in European rallies. She won the Mitropa championship in 2011. 

She began as a navigator in 2002, sitting beside Tine Milic in a Peugeot 106 on the Rally Saturnus. Between 2005 and 2008 she was the regular navigator ro Boris Pozeg, mainly in Slovenia. This followed four years of teenage karting. At this time, Asja was undecided between rallying and circuit racing. She was a leading driver in the Slovenian Fiat Seicento one-make series in 2003 and 2004, winning several races and the 2003 Fiat championship.

Her first events in the rally driving seat were in 2005, when she drove an EZ Racing Nissan Micra in Slovenian rallies. Until 2008, she only competed sporadically as a driver, using cars including a Zastava Yugo and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. The best of her early results was probably a 22nd place in the Rally Maribor, driving the Micra. She was still dividing her time between rallying and other motorsport at this point, competing in hillclimbs. 

She began rallying seriously as a driver in 2009, using a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. In events across Europe she managed to get into the top twenty, with a best finish of eleventh in the Slovenian Rally Primorje Ajdovscina. 

In 2010, driving the same car, she improved dramatically, with five top-ten finishes in Germany, Slovenia, and Austria. Her best finish was third in the Rallye Baden-Württemberg in Germany. She was also fourth in the ADAC Drei-Städte-Rallye. Her results left her second in the Mitropa Rally Championship. For her last event of the year, the Rally Porec in Slovenia, she joined up with navigator Blanka Kacin, who would sit beside her for most the rest of her career.

In her next season, 2011, she won the Mitropa championship after being the fastest Mitropa driver in the Baden-Württemburg Rally, the Citta di Bassano Rally in Italy and the Drei-Städte-Rallye. This was also the scene of her best overall result of the year: seventh. 

In 2012, she had a full schedule spread over a smaller area, mainly based in Germany. Her best result was a second third place in Baden-Württemburg, albeit in a different Lancer Evo IX. She picked up another third place in the Stemweder Berg Rally and a fourth in the Voralpen Rally. Mid-season, she entered the Freilassinger Schotter Sprint, a rare rallysprint outing, and was rewarded with second place.

Her only international outing was the Sibiului Rally in Romania, a round of the International Rally Challenge, and she finished tenth.

Her 2013 programme took in a wider selection of rallies, including the Croatia Rally which was then a European championship event. She was eleventh and picked up her first ERC Ladies’ points. Her best results of the year were four fifth places, two in Germany and two in Slovenia. They came from the Saturnus, Idrija, Pegasus Rally Sulinger and Litermont events. She also competed in Austria and Italy. Her cars were both Lancer Evo IXs, although two different chassis.

In 2014, she rallied the Lancer in Central European Zone events, in the European Championship. She scored three top-ten finishes, including a fifth place in the Fuchs Rallye Velenje in Slovenia and sixth in the Rebenland Rally in Austria. She was eleventh in the Mitropa championship.

She retired from competition after this but still works as a precision driver for film and TV, a role she first took up in 2007. She made a one-off guest appearance at the 2022 Rally Show Santa Domenica in Croatia, driving the Lancer with Blanka Kacin. They were twelfth overall.

(Image copyright Martin Trdla)